we have plenty to work on you the upcoming fiscal cliff and immigration. i think when susan collins appeared after a meeting, i believe it was on wednesday, who, you know, is not exactly a red meat republican who voted for the stimulus, for crying out loud. there were onlyly republicans to do so. came out and expressed reservations about susan rice. that was a red flag. gwen: let me ask you about what's happening on the hill. we have heard quite loud and clear from people like kelly ayot, john mccain and lindsay graham, and where are her defenders? >> i think there are an element of defenders. i don't think there is much out there because she hasn't been nominated to anything yet. it's a weird argument because it's about someone that we're not sure is going to get nominated to a position. but one of the facts that democrats bring up a lot is that if the issue is that she misinformed congress or misled, that they draw a parallel to condoleezza rice and she misinformed or misled on iraq and she still had the support of people like hillary clinton and barack